


Standing in Deep Water

by transfixeddream



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 20:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/531233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfixeddream/pseuds/transfixeddream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon divergence: Instead of his near-death experience leading him down the road of homicidal maniac, Matt teaches kids how to swim. Danny's sister is in his class.</p><p>Also posted <a href="http://transfixeddream.livejournal.com/135185.html">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Standing in Deep Water

**Author's Note:**

> Written for stuck_at_sea's request of more Danny/Matt for the Danny Love Fest!

"Danny, come _on_ ," Susie whines, stretching each syllable a mile long. She's tapping her little foot and glaring up at Danny, eyes making direct contact with his most likely bloodshot ones. "You're going to make me late!"

"Suz," Danny starts, pinching the bridge of his nose when his head starts pounding from the effort. "You're two feet from the door. You'll make it in time, okay?"

"This is what happens when you stay out all night," she says, sounding much less like a seven-year-old and much more like his mother.

Danny pastes on a tight smile, because he knows that he was Susie's last choice to take her to her swimming lessons, and _she_ knows this is the last thing he wants to be doing right now. "I only stayed out until three, and Dad didn't tell me I had to bring you today until twenty minutes ago. Cut me some slack."

Susie looks skeptical of it all, as she generally does, but Danny resists rolling his eyes--mostly because he knows that would hurt him more than her--and opens the door for her. Immediately Susie runs ahead of him, through another door without a single regard for him.

"I'll wait for you by the pool," Danny mutters to himself.

He hasn't been in the center for at least two years, but even in his less than stellar state he manages to find the pool area without much difficulty. Okay--mostly he just follows the scent of chlorine until it burns in his nose. There's a grand total of three people in the room when he walks in, two sitting on the small set of bleachers off to the side, talking quietly, and a third swimming laps in the pool. Oh, what do you know. They're _early_.

He's had a total of around four hours of sleep and about six drinks before that, so Danny sits as far as possible from the duo and closes his eyes shut on a groan. He's almost certain that he did something to cause this torture--his parents are probably punishing him for not taking out the trash or something.

"Hey, you're new."

It takes Danny a moment to work up the energy to crack one eye open, but when he takes in the sight before him he's suddenly wide awake. There's a very fit, very good looking dude standing in front of him, wearing just a low hanging pair of red shorts and dripping wet. Danny sort of wants to pinch himself, just to make sure this isn't some hangover-fueled hallucination or something, but then the guy smiles and Danny doesn't even care. He has a terrific smile, and Danny wishes he had known there'd be a hot guy here; he might've stopped partying with the sixes and sevens a lot earlier had he known he'd be seeing a solid ten the next day.

It takes even longer for him to realize he's supposed to address the guy's question--statement? Danny can't even remember. It's only when the guy raises an eyebrow that Danny snaps out of it and says, "Oh. Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am. My sister--uh, she's changing into her bathing suit right now." He clears his throat and holds out a hand, and tries not to smile too stupidly. "I'm Danny."

"Susie's brother?" Danny nods and the guy grins, shaking Danny's hand. He has really blue eyes. "You look alike," he says as a way of explanation. Danny's not sure if he should take that as a compliment or not, but he supposes Susie's cute when she's not a total brat so he figures it's okay. "I'm Matt, one of your sister's instructors."

Instructor? Danny's eyes dart to the door of the changing room, where Susie's just coming out now. And oh, she is so going to pay for this. It's one thing to make him miss sleep to take her to swimming lessons, but failing to mention he might want to actually look presentable because there's a totally doable guy _wet and in shorts_ teaching the course is downright cruel.

(Okay, he'd probably die if his little sister ever said "doable" in regards to _anybody_ , but the point still stands.)

"Oh," Danny says. Matt looks like he's waiting for Danny to say more, but his brain is not up to functioning right now. "Sorry," he says instead, "I'm not used to getting up this early in the morning."

"Late night last night?" Matt asks casually, and Danny's pretty sure he can feel himself start to blush.

"Um. Sort of. With friends." It's not exactly the truth, but this guy teaches little kids how to swim--Danny's pretty sure saying he was drinking until three at a gay bar would be inappropriate in this situation.

Matt nods, then scrunches his brow. "Oh, hey! You go to Beacon Hills, right?" When Danny just nods in return, Matt grins. "Yeah, hey, I thought I recognized you. You're on the lacrosse team, right?"

"Yeah," Danny says. He's a little surprised that Matt _didn't_ know him right away, given the fact that he obviously goes there, too. And that's not Danny being pompous or anything, just most people tend to remember the one openly gay athlete at the school, for better or worse.

Throughout their (somewhat brief) conversation, Danny's noticed people filtering through behind Matt, but it's not until he glances around the room that he sees all the parents sitting on the bleachers. The kids, maybe fifteen in all, are standing with two girls who must be the other instructors, and Danny suddenly feels both embarrassed and smug that he's been eating up Matt's attention.

If it were just the parents and kids he had to worry about, he would totally try to keep the conversation going. However, he's going to have Susie hassling him all day for holding up the lesson. "Uh, I think you have a class to teach."

Matt groans when he looks around, then flashes a quick smile in Danny's direction. "I guess I do. Uh, I'll talk to you later?" It comes out as a question, so Danny just returns the smile and nods, unable to help himself from staring at Matt's ass when he turns and unceremoniously jumps back into the pool. He's probably going to get a couple of stink-eyes from the parents, but whatever. Their kids aren't paying attention to Danny anymore.

The class is advanced enough that Danny doesn't have to do anything but watch, and therein lies the problem. Actually meeting Matt and being aware of his existence means that rather than half-sleeping through Susie's swimming lesson like he'd planned, he's now watching a bunch of kids--okay, he's mostly watching Matt, and occasionally Susie--practice their swim strokes.

Matt is really good with the kids, all smiles and laughs as he engages in victory splash fights after they swim to their target. And Danny has a lot of appreciation for many things guys can do, but being awesome with kids has never really been on his top ten things he wants from a guy. A big dick and lips that won't quit, sure, but he's never really factored "amazing with children" into making up his dream man.

Or, he hasn't until now, because the way Matt's eyes light up with vigor around the kids is downright addictive. He wonders what Jackson would say if Danny told him about this stellar revelation. Probably nothing, because he'd be too busy laughing too hard.

Halfway through the lesson, Susie comes over to visit him, and Danny finds himself glowering at her immediately. "Suz, why didn't you _tell me_ your instructor was hot? I would've showered!"

Susie wrinkles her nose and tosses her towel at him. "Danny, eww! Stop being gross." She doesn't even give him a decent answer--she just walks away, leaving Danny annoyed and holding a wet towel. He can't scowl too much, however, because Matt chooses that moment to wave at him from the other end of the room. He has to give his sister a little credit, he supposes; without her, he wouldn't be here in the first place, sitting on bleachers while a hot, semi-naked dude waves to him.

True to his word, Matt catches up with Danny almost immediately after declaring the class over for the morning. Susie is talking to one of the other girls in the class, which Danny appreciates, and the parents are either talking in small groups or going to get their kids.

"Feeling any better?" Matt asks, wide grin on his face as he sits down next to Danny. He's still dripping wet and Danny's finding it hard to stay composed now that he's actually focused and awake.

"Yeah, I think the chlorine probably cleared everything out of me," Danny says, and Matt laughs.

"That'd do it."

Danny nods and gestures to the small gaggle of kids still in the room. "You're really good with them, you know."

Matt ducks his head and Danny sees color start to appear high on his cheeks. "Thanks, I. I don't know, I guess I see a lot of myself in them, at that age, I mean."

"You were a swimming superstar?" Danny teases, and Matt barks out a surprised laugh.

"Uh, no. Not even. Actually, I--" he swallows and scratches the back of his head "--I almost drowned when I was ten. I was terrified of water before that, and even more afterwards." Danny suddenly feels like an ass for even bringing it up, because Matt's voice is getting soft and his face looks pained, all tight and tense. "Sometimes I think I still am."

Danny doesn't know what to say, so he just nods, thinking over something, _anything_ that wouldn't sound like bullshit. "So you learned how to swim," Danny tries. "And now you're teaching them. That's awesome."

Slowly, the tension eases out of Matt's face and he manages a small smile. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks."

" _Danny_ , I wanna go home!"

Danny squeezes his eyes shut and groans, because his little sister is _not_ ruining an actually meaningful conversation between him and a cute guy. But there Susie is, arms crossed and wet pigtails hanging against her cheeks, and he wants to cry a little.

"I should let you get going," Matt says, cool and easy, like he knows he's about to be dismissed anyway. He stands and says, "It was nice meeting you. Maybe I'll see you around."

Danny nods and opens his mouth to speak, but Susie gets there before him. "Oh my _god_ , he wants you to ask him out, so just do it already so we can leave."

Danny and Matt's heads whip around to Susie in mutual horror, but Susie just looks bored and annoyed. Danny's not really sure what to say to that, but luckily Matt seems to have that covered, tackling things with a wide smile that's contagious.

"Uh, well. I've got nothing planned tonight," he says, and Danny hears the blood pound in his ears.

"Me neither," Danny says, maybe a bit too quickly. "Dinner, maybe?"

"Seven?"

"Sure," Danny says. "Uh, oh, here. Put your number in my phone." He digs into his pocket and pulls out his cell, and passes it to Matt. He hands it back to Danny a minute later, smile still on his face. "I'll text you the address," Danny says as he pockets his phone.

Matt nods and says, "See you then. Bye, Susie."

"Bye, Matt," Susie says cheerfully as she and Danny walk away. Then she sighs, grabbing her towel from Danny's hands. "Boys are so stupid. Wait until I tell Mom about this one."

A quip like that would normally earn her a noogie, but considering she almost single-handedly got Danny a date for tonight, he figures she deserves at least ice cream.


End file.
